Into the Darkness
by aaetha
Summary: Sarai has never thought of herself as anything other than a normal girl- well, not normal, but certainly not special in any way. However, when she is whisked away to Wizard City and finds ghouls and skeletons attracted to her like magnets, she soon realizes that she is anything but.
1. Chapter 1

A/N Hi there! So, I recently found this in my old documents and decided to rewrite what I have and continue it. Here's the Prologue and then Chapter One. Note that weird things really won't start happening until Chapter Four-ish, up until then it's all just the normal new player stuff.

Wizard101 is not mine!

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**Prologue**

"She will soon be here." The spirit spoke from a bowed down position, its haunting voice somewhat muffled by the fact that it was facing the thick carpet.

"Good…" This was a man, short and hunched over. His long grey beard trailed to the ground, and he held up a lantern in one wizened hand. His face was rather grotesque, one eye bulging and the other small, enough deep wrinkles that as he smiled, it was more creepy than happy.

"You are dismissed," he said. The spirit flew up and through the roof of the room. Now alone in the Death School, the man closed his eyes and teleported, surrounded by skulls.

He appeared in a room quite unlike the one he was in before. Everything was still black, but it shone with a kind of dark light. In the middle of the room sat a woman, pale-skinned and black-haired, obviously evil, but beautiful.

"She will soon be here," the old man croaked, echoing the words of the spirit before him. The beautiful woman smiled a smile that made her more beautiful, yet even more evil.

"I cannot wait to see her… my daughter… and I cannot wait to be free." Her voice was soft and accented, though from where it was not possible to tell, it seemed a bit of everything. As she shifted her weight, a thin chain wrapped around her ankle came into view. It was connected to the wall behind her, and as she tugged on it, sparks of magic flew everywhere.

"Carry on as normal, and do not let her know about me." Her voice became sharp and commanding when she gave orders. "Oh, and make sure Malistaire does not cause _too_ much trouble- we would not want him interfering with our plans, would we, my dear?" Her voice softened with affection, or so it appeared.

"No… no, I'll go do that…" Staring, the old man teleported away again.

As soon as he was gone, the woman's face twisted in disgust. "Filthy creature," she spat. "I cannot believe he takes the lies I feed him. But soon, soon, I shall have my revenge…" She laughed evilly.

"Come, daughter, come…" she crooned. "Come, my daughter… come, Sarai Deathtamer."

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**Chapter One**

_An old man and an owl stood in a room. The walls were made of stone, and were lined with bookshelves filled with books of various sizes and colors. The old man's beard was white, and big enough that you couldn't see his mouth. He wore a monocle in his right eye, and his other bright blue eye stared intently. He was dressed in an odd way, wearing a long purple robe with red trimming and gold moons and stars all over it. He carried a staff made of wood, with gold on top. _

_The owl had glasses, placed on its beak in a very humanlike way. It wore a purple hat and sash, and its yellow eyes' piercing gaze rested on a crystal ball, placed between the two. Mist swirled inside, right underneath its glassy surface. After staring for several minutes, the old man spoke up._

"_A-ha! The spell is working! Look, Gamma! Finally we have found one!"_

"_Whoooo?" The owl, Gamma, could talk! Its voice was soft and hooting, but the sound was obviously a question and not just a call._

"_A young wizard! A student with amazing potential… enough, perhaps, to save Wizard City!"_

"_Oh really? Where?"_

"_A very, very distant realm… my goodness!" The old man peered more carefully into the ball, leaning in slightly. "On a world that does not even believe in magic! I wonder what manner of wizard they might become. Perhaps we should consult the Book of Secrets…" _

_At this, he turned around. Behind him was an old book on a pedestal, with a candle on either side. The writing on the book was unintelligible, lit with a soft golden glow. The old man went to turn a page, and on it, instead of words, was a picture. The girl in it was fast asleep on a bed, her long black hair splayed on the pillow and the blankets tangled around her body. The picture moved as she slowly rolled over, and a white skull appeared…_

Sarai sat bolt upright in her bed, her eyes flying open. Her heart was racing from her dream. As she realized where she was, she took several deep breaths and her heart rate slowed. _'Just a dream, just a dream,'_ she told herself. They were getting clearer. Every time, they were more realistic. And this one was creepy, too, the whole part about her seeing herself in that book. "Overactive imagination" was all that the therapists could diagnose when her aunt took her in, after they'd begun to get really bad. This one wasn't nearly as scary as the ones with the weirdo trying to take over the world… the _imaginary_ world, she reminded herself.

A glance at the digital clock next to her bed told her that it was 7:15, time to get ready for school. As she pulled on a simple shirt and jeans, she couldn't help thinking about her dream again.

Sarai was bored, as usual. Science has been boring. English had been boring. History had been boring. Now, math was boring. Why couldn't they teach something _interesting_ at school for once? She zoned out on the lecture about exponents and the Pythagorean Theorem, and stared at the clock. Nine minutes until the end of the day… Nine torturous minutes…

"And so, class, you see that a2 plus b2 _must_ equal c2, and that is why the Pythagorean Theorem shows us how to calculate the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle." Just as the teacher was about to say the homework, the bell rang, and he was drowned out by the chatter of students talking about what they were going to do that weekend. Sarai picked up her heavy math book and walked, not slowly or quickly, to her locker. She had nobody to talk to, nothing that she was going to do this weekend.

So she opened her locker, collected everything she would need for homework, and began the short walk home. When she got to the fairly small house, she pulled a key from under the doormat, unlocked the door, and dumped her backpack down onto the kitchen table, relieved to get its weight off of her shoulders.

"Aunt Emma, I'm going for a walk!" Sarai called up the staircase.

"Okay, just be back before dinner please!"

As soon as she stepped out of the door, Sarai headed straight for her favorite relaxing place- the graveyard. She knew this was weird, but when she was there, she felt like she was the most… in her element. And the spirits talked to her sometimes there. She didn't know whose voices they were, but they spoke to her softly, told her stories of the past. It hadn't taken her long to figure out that this wasn't a normal thing to happen, and she had stopped talking about them for fear of her aunt bringing her to a psychiatrist the next time she mentioned hearing voices in her head.

But that day, when she got to the graveyard, something was different. She didn't feel the peace she usually did, instead tension hung in the air. As she took her first step onto the soil of the paths between the graves, she was assaulted by whispers in her mind. _'Watch out…' 'They're coming to get you…' 'Run…' 'You can't escape…' 'The wizards…' 'They're coming…'_

"What? What's going on?" Sarai felt like she should whisper. Her hesitant voice cut through the silence of the graveyard.

"Who's coming to get me? What do I need to run from?"

'_The wizards…' 'They want to take you…' _

Sarai was getting a little panicky now. Wizards? They were acting as if her dreams were real! But they weren't, of course, they were just dreams.

She took another step into the graveyard. Nothing happened, except the whispers got louder and more insistent. Another step… and another… still nothing. And then, she took a fifth step.

As soon as her foot touched the ground in front of her, white, semi-transparent skulls began to float around her. They looked like they were two-dimensional drawings. As they appeared and disappeared, the familiar graveyard scene around her began to fade. Replacing it, and getting stronger and stronger, was a tower in front of her. The old man and owl from her dream were there, and she stood on a stone sidewalk with strange circular designs on it. Even her clothes were changing- instead of a black t-shirt and dark jeans, she was wearing a dress-like black thing, a robe, and a hat, which was threatening to fall off her head, perched at an awkward angle as it was. As the graveyard faded to nothing, so did the floating skulls, and the old man spoke.

"Well, hello! If it isn't our newest student!" He tossed his staff in the air and caught it again. Magic sparked between his hands.

"My name is Merle Ambrose. I am the headmaster of the Ravenwood School of Magical Arts." At this, Sarai decided she was dreaming. She must have fallen asleep at some point, and she was dreaming that all of this was happening. So she decided to just go with the flow, and wait until she woke up. There was always the pinch method if things got too creepy.

"We're expecting great things from you. But first things first-" The owl cut in. Since this was a dream, Sarai decided that it was probably the same one from her other dream, so it was called Gamma.

"Hellooo, my name is Gamma the Owl, and I am pleased to meet youuu." Sarai was right; this was the same owl as the one in her dream!

"I'm Sarai, uh, Mason." She had never felt right using her aunt's last name, but she didn't know her real one, since her parents died when she was just a baby.

"Just Sarai is fine," said Merle Ambrose. Gamma then continued with his introductory speech.

"Wizards test their skills by summoning fantastic creatures and dueling! To become a Master Wizard, you must learn every spell in your class. Wizards love to duel! The more spells you learn, the better a duelist you will become." As Sarai tried to absorb all of this information, suddenly, the ground started shaking. She felt like she was moving up and down for a moment, and stumbled slightly- and then it stopped. _'Strange dream,'_ she thought. Not that they weren't all strange.

Without any sign, grey clouds flew in to cover the sky and rain started pouring down on Sarai, Gamma, and Merle Ambrose. A shattering sound came from above, and Sarai looked up only to see the glass in the window at the top of the tower come falling down on them, and a tall shadow passed by it.

"Whoooo?" asked Gamma. Sarai wanted to ask the same question. There was something strangely familiar about the shape of that shadow…

"How odd! Come along, young wizard. Let's investigate the matter! Meet me in the tower!" Headmaster Ambrose turned away from her and walked toward the tall tower. Sarai was a little bit upset. How could he just leave her here, soaking wet in the rain?

"Youuu'd best follow the headmaster. Youuu're safe with him!" said Gamma. That was all that it took. Sarai's black robes had begun to sag and stick to her body, and they were made of a heavy cloth, unlike her usual clothes. As much as she didn't want to go in, she ran toward the tower to, hopefully, dry off.

Inside, the first thing that caught her attention was a tall man. He wore a black, bejeweled robe, and his black hair was long and braided. He held a staff topped with a small dragon statue. Sarai gasped. This was the man from her dreams, the one who was trying to take over. She was now firmly decided that she was dreaming. The odd thing was, normally, when she dreamed, she was just looking at whatever it was that was happening. Never had she actually _existed_.

"Who's there…? Malistaire!" called out Headmaster Ambrose. His voice turned menacing when he got to the 'Malistaire' part.

"Ambrose," Malistaire replied. His lip curled in a sneer. Obviously, he didn't think much of the headmaster.

"You are no longer welcome here. Why have you returned?" Headmaster Ambrose seemed somehow… calmly furious.

"I'm here to resolve our unfinished business! Is this your latest student? My henchmen will see to your little friend!" Little friend? Sarai was a _little_ bit terrified…

"Hurry along, young wizard. Take this deck of spell cards and deal with those creatures, while I tend to Malistaire himself." Sarai's mind drew a blank. Deal with those creatures? What? Ambrose thrust a deck of cards into her hands. They were a bit larger than playing cards, and had an intricate golden design on the back. She turned the top one over, it had the words "Fire Cat" in gold over a picture of a flaming lion-ish creature.

"Uh… Headmaster… What… exactly… am I supposed to _do_ with these?" she asked, softly and hesitantly, but still urgently. Before he could answer, Malistaire spoke.

"Don't be so sure of yourself, old man!"

"Run up and confront them! Be brave! I will guide you!" And he pushed Sarai slightly, out close to the 'henchmen'. She saw that they were reptilian, with red scales and forked toungues, and they had dragonlike heads and large wings. They stood on two feet, and each wore a green robe trimmed with gold. Sarai was nearly trembling with fear, and she glanced back at Ambrose, who merely gave her an encouraging nod. The ground beneath her glowed, and a circle appeared below her feet.

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Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Although I am usually very slow with updates, like I said before this story already had the first three chapters done so I just had to revamp them a little! Hope you enjoy!

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**Chapter Two**

Sarai picked up the deck of cards, they were the only thing that could, possibly, save her from death by these- henchmen dragon things. She turned over the top one, "Fire Cat", again, and then the one underneath it, "Troll."

"You've drawn these two spells from your deck, good. Quickly! Choose one and attack one of the henchmen! Just draw the symbol on the card in the air." Now that she looked more closely, Sarai saw that both cards had a little symbol, a flame-like one for the "Fire Cat", and a triangular eye shape for the "Troll". The troll looked more dangerous, so Sarai picked that one. Before she got a chance to cast it, though, one of the draconian henchmen glanced at a card of his and drew a symbol in the air. Ice came from nowhere to coat the ground, making a crackling sound. A beetle materialized in the centre. It looked anatomically like any other insect, except it was half the size of Sarai, and made entirely out of glistening ice!

It ran toward Sarai and whacked her in the legs with its pincers. It hurt, but she grimaced and ignored it. She took a deep breath and prepared to draw her triangular eye, but before she could, the second henchman's took his turn. He summoned a gigantic scorpion, which squirted poison at Sarai from its spiked tail before disappearing. The venom dripped down into the open cuts on her legs from the beetle, and she winced as a stinging pain rose in them. It was then that she decided that she couldn't be dreaming. Dreams could be terrifying, but they never hurt. Before one of the henchmen took another turn, Sarai reached up and hastily drew the triangular eye in the air with her finger, feeling rather foolish. However, much to her surprise, AL;DFJ;ASDKLJ

She felt power rush into her, an exhiliarating feeling of strength and invincibility- and then it vanished just as quickly when the outline of a large troll appeared, holding a club. As the card in her hand faded to white, the troll stared blankly at Sarai for a moment, and then turned around and brought its club down on the draconian's head with a loud _crack_. The henchman shook his head, clearly injured, but unfazed.

"Oh my! You're hurt!" exclaimed the headmaster. He looked worriedly at Sarai, whose legs were indeed hurting a lot.

"Luckily, if you're defeated in a wizard duel, you'll be teleported back to the Commons." Oh, good. Sarai was releived that she wouldn't die, but wondered had no idea what the Commons was- not that she had any idea what anything was, at the moment.

"Mana is magical energy. It's what you use to cast spells. Each spell uses up some of your energy, depending on how difficult the spell is, you might use up more or less mana…" Headmaster Ambrose trailed off, and Sarai noticed that he was looking at the henchmen, who had already each grabbed a spell card and was grinning wickedly.

"We're under attack! Oh my! Call me a fool… I had all but just forgotten!"

Sarai didn't have time to riffle through her deck and grab another spell card, she just grabbed the fire cat that she already had out. The henchmen cast their spells first, the first one created another scorpion, which pinched Sarai's arm, causing her to cry out. She began to feel a little weak, what with her legs shaking from the bloody gash across them and a purple bruise already forming on her arm, causing the whole thing to go numb. The second draconian drew a different symbol, black and shaped something like a skull, and water filled the center of the 'circle' Sarai and her enemies stood in. Some spray flew into Sarai's from the crashing waves, and she tasted the bitter salt of seawater. Bubbles rose from the centre, and then an entire sandy island surfaced.

Slouched on the island, under a palm tree, was a skeleton, wearing a pirate's eye patch and a sword attached to its belt. It stood up and hobbled toward Sarai, then pulled out its sword and slashed at her stomach before she had a chance to react. Blood was rushing down her legs, and the white trimming on her black boots was beginning to be stained red. She began to feel really weak, like she'd fall over any second. Raising a slightly trembling arm, she looked at the card once more and drew the flamelike symbol.

She felt the odd power rushing in then out feeling again, and a fire, floating in midair, appeared. This morphed into what was in the picture on the card, now blank, a cat with ferocuiously buring fur made of flames. This cat opened its mouth and breathed fire at the draconian henchman that Sarai had already hurt once. It doubled up in pain, burns on its lower arms and its robe sleeves reduced to ashes, as the cat vanished.

"Aha! You doddering fool! Your student is no match for my forces!" said Malistaire, cackling wickedly. The headmaster ignored him, and instead turned to Sarai.

"Oh no! You're in trouble! Quickly, use the Unicorn spell and cast it on yourself. It will replenish your Health." Sarai pulled the now top card of the deck over, and saw that it had a picture of a unicorn on it. She reached out and prepared to draw the symbol, but was too slow. One of the henchmen drew a lightning bolt in the air, and the circle filled with water again. This time, Sarai saw a jagged fin in the water, circling and circling, until a giant shark jumped up and onto her, cutting her sides with its sharp teeth. For a moment, she was looking into its gullet, before it became intangible and disappeared with the water.

Sarai was bleeding profusely, from the vertical cuts on her arms and sides. If she weren't in so much pain, she would have laughed at the pathetic image she no doubt made. She barely could find enough energy to reach up and draw the leaflike symbol on the "Unicorn" card. Instantly, grass and flowers grew in the circle and a pure white, shining horse with a blue mane and tail appeared. A horse, except, it had a spiralling horn on its forehead. The unicorn bent down, and its horn tapped the ground in front of her, bright light swelling from the spot it touched. The light engulfed Sarai, and she felt her cuts closing, the pain fading, leaving only dried blood on her robes and boots.

Malistaire's face contorted with anger, and he began to yell at his henchmen.

"Foolish creatures! You've let the young whelp heal! Defeat the whelp or you'll suffer for it! Use your spells to weaken the young wizard's spells!" Whelp? Oh, so now she was a _whelp_? Sarai honestly had no idea what 'whelp' meant.

"Here, young Wizard. Take some more Pips. They power your spells." The headmaster lifted his staff and magical energy swirled around him, and he directed it at Sarai. She didn't feel any different, but three glowing balls of white light floated next to her, instead of the just one there was before, which she hadn't, of course, noticed, as she was more focused on the creatures attackking her.

"The more Pips you have, the stronger the spells you can cast! Quickly now! Pick another spell and cast it at them!" In a kind of dazed trance as she pulled the next spell off her deck, Sarai noticed that Headmaster Ambrose seemed to like the word "quickly", as he'd said it several times. The first card the drew was called "Nature's Wrath", and she glanced at the tree picture as one of the henchmen got a chance to cast.

Nothing attacked Sarai, but she saw a circle appear in the air in front of her, with a sword on it and spiked edges. She swatted at it, but her hand went right through it, and it appeared to be just made of light. Shrugging, Sarai cast the "Nature's Wrath" spell, drawing the symbol and focusing on the tree. As the magic began to summon a creature, however, the light circle in front of her began to glow. It absorbed some of the magic she cast, and then vanished. Still, a tree materialized in front of her, a bit more slowly than the spells had worked before. Suddenly, the tree _moved_, and it turned toward the henchman she hadn't yet cast a spell at.

The tree-thing picked up a boulder of the several that had appeared with it and threw it at the draconian, and it fell over, visibly damaged and weakened, stumbling a bit as it climbed back to its feet. Still, Sarai thought, if she'd had a boulder thrown at her, she'd probably be injured more. Must have been the circle-of-light thing.

"At last, you fools earn your keep! Now finish the child!" Malistaire's voice jolted her out of her thoughts, and she pulled the next card off her deck. It was called "Balanceblade" and had a picture that looked like the light-circle spell-weakening thing, except without the spikes.

"Perfect! Cast this Balanceblade spell on yourself," said the headmaster. "It will increase your next spell's power!" Sarai was about to do this, but the henchmen were ready before her and the first one drew the same flame she had made for the fire cat. He summoned a bird instead, a giant bird that also appeared to be made entirely from fire. It flew down at her, not pecking her, but giving her a few painful burns on her face and arms.

And then the second draconian attacked, making a centaur materialize. It shot an arrow at her, and the arrow transformed into a tree, which exploded into a bunch of branches that gathered and pricked Sarai. She cast the balanceblade spell, ending up with a light circle, similar to the one before but with no spikes, in front of her.

"I've got it! Use the Meteor Strike spell!" said the headmaster. He pointed at the third card from the top of her deck, and she turned it over to see the words "Meteor Strike" and a picture of a meteor hitting the ground. "It will strike both of the henchmen! Here are the Pips to cast it with." Headmaster Ambrose gave her three more 'pips'. "With the Balanceblade spell you've already cast, the Meteor Strike spell should finish them off! Cast it now!" Sarai prepared to cast the spell, but, again, the henchmen were ready before her.

The first one drew a triangular eye symbol, and a half-human half-bull that she recognized to be a minotaur materialized. It swung at her with its axe, and hit her on her upper arm. Gasping with pain, Sarai felt blood rushing down her arm, and braced herself for the other draconian's spell, which was one that summoned… what appeared to be… three ninja pigs? Even in pain and danger, Sarai found herself choking out a laugh… that is, until each pig stabbed her in the side with their small, but pointy, swords.

She felt as weak as before, but managed to raise her arm, not the hurt one, and draw a flame symbol. This time, when her magic hit the light circle, balanceblade, in front of her, it strengthened! She collapsed, but saw that a meteor hit each of the draconians, and that they fell down and didn't get back up. She closed her eyes, but still heard the headmaster talking.

"Excellent work, young Wizard! Now let me see to Malistaire… I'll show him… threatening a new student before orientation, no less!"

"Another time, old man… I have what I came for. And now, I'll take my leave of this wretched place." Sarai heard a sound of wind rushing, and forced her eyes open enough to see that Malistaire disappeared in a whirl of skulls.

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laughalot4321: Thanks! I'm glad you love it, and I will try to maintain the awesome. :)


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